Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice S01E05 - Michael and Laura

A 22-year-old budding Olympic hopeful and burns victim comes to the aid of a 26-year-old self-confessed beauty-holic whose costly obsession has already put her thousands of pounds in debt and is threatening to ruin her life.

At eight months old, Michael Boateng was left with significant facial scarring when he rolled off his mother's bed and became trapped with his face against a boiling hot water pipe. Michael sustained severe burns and lost an ear, and after undergoing four painful skin grafts, lived through years of hurtful name calling. As a way of coping, Michael turned to sport and now hopes to compete in the 2012 London Olympics, but remains determined to put a stop to the trend for quick surgical fixes.

On the other side of the beauty debate is Laura Summers, a woman whose obsession with her appearance is threatening to consume her life. Having spent the past eight years chasing her dreams of physical perfection, Laura has altered her image to suit this ideal, with costly consequences. Now, the numerous surgical procedures - including several boob and nose jobs, botox and lip fillers - have left her a whopping £30,000 in debt.

Challenged to spend a day in each other's lives, Michael and Laura are both thrown outside their comfort zones in an attempt to embrace a different idea of beauty. But with views so deeply entrenched in opposing sides of the debate, this could be one of the toughest challenges yet. With the help of psychiatrist Dr Laxmi Kathuria, can Michael convince Laura to accept her natural body, learn her limits and quell her beauty obsession for good?

Also this episode, Adam Pearson questions the fashion industry's notion of beauty and takes his campaign to London Fashion Week where he stages a runway show to prove that models of all shapes and sizes are beautiful.